Small Wonder: Ch-Ch-Changes (S5E3)
by BadMrSushi
Summary: As Vicki and Jamie begin high school, The Lawson family is beset by multiple trials on all sides...


**Small Wonder:**

 **(S5E3) Ch-Ch-Changes**

 _By BadMrSushi._

 _ **A/N**_

 _ **I appreciate your always coming back and reading~! This story is nearing completion and should be done by Thursday, May 12th!**_

Joan Lawson nervously put on her earrings and checked her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was teased nicely, her eyebrows: immaculate. She smiled into the mirror and checked her teeth. Pure and clean as the driven snow, her dental hygiene had to be amongst the greatest in all the town. She sighed out and gave herself a reassuring nod. Today was Joan's day! Today, she would start her full time teaching career! Joan smiled again and leaned in a little closer to the mirror, just as her husband Ted poked his head into the mirror's frame.

"Honey! If you keep staring at that thing, I'm going to take it and bury it in the desert! You've been looking at yourself longer than a parrot does!" Said Ted. Joan turned and smiled at him.

"There's no harm in looking your best for the first day~." Said Joan, as she squeezed past him in the doorway to the bathroom.

"You've taught a class before." Said Ted, as he folded his arms. Joan gave him a nod and slipped on her shoes.

"But this is going to be my class for the whole school year Ted! It's new to me~ and besides, you never know what cute P.E. teachers might be hanging out in the teacher's lounge!" Said Joan, as she shot out the door with a whimsical smile on her face. Ted feigned insult and stuck his head out of the bedroom door after her.

"Well you'd better not have used up all the hot water!" He said. Joan stuck her fingers into her ears and scurried off to the kitchen door in the living room. She swung open the door and greeted her two children, seated already at the table. She gave both Jamie and Vicki a quick peck on the top of their heads and made her way over to the kitchen island where Vicki had set out a nice tray of breakfast goodies.

"Hello you two! Are you guys excited and ready?!" Asked Joan. She looked over at her two high school students and smiled big at them. Jamie looked handsome with his new spiky haircut and cool black clothes, and Vicki looked happy enough with her French braided hair and yellow sundress. Joan popped a small bit of bacon into her mouth and began to pour herself some coffee, and then looked back to the two of them. "You guys are being awfully quiet! Come on, it's the big day! You're high schoolers now!" She said cheerfully. Vicki shrugged.

"Jamie isn't feeling too good this morning." She said. Jamie nodded and took a huge drink from his orange juice. Joan frowned at him.

"Oh no… well, are you still okay to go to school? You don't want to miss the first day, do you?" She asked. Jamie shook his head.

"He's okay, I'm okay." Said Vicki. Joan looked at the both of them suspiciously.

"Vicki, why don't you let Jamie speak for himself?" She asked, as she took a sip of her coffee. Vicki turned to Jamie and stared at him, waiting for some kind of instruction. Finally, Jamie sighed out and looked up at his mom with a frown.

"Promise me you won't laugh." Said Jamie, in a squeaky and cracking voice. Joan involuntarily spat out some of her coffee at the sound of Jamie's sudden new timber. She tried hard to hide her smile and wiped up her coffee from her chin.

"I'm sorry Jamie! That caught me off guard!" She said, very sympathetically. Vicki nodded.

"Jamie says that everyone's voice changes in high school or middle school." Said Vicki. "Is my voice going to change too?" She asked. Joan sat at the table with the two kids and gave a pat on Jamie's shoulder. Vicki's voice maintained her usual monotone, but every now and again she did break out of it, and it was a welcomed change. Jamie on the other hand, poor Jamie's voice, sounded like he had sucked in a balloon full of helium and then perhaps gargled with raw apple cider vinegar.

"Not as much as his is, Vicki." Said Joan. "Jamie, it'll be okay! It only lasts for a little while- and after that, maybe you'll sound like Christian Slater!" She said reassuringly. Jamie's eyes lit up.

"Yeah?!" He squeaked out. Joan gave him a big nod.

"You bet!" She said. Vicki nodded too.

"Or maybe you'll sound like Gilbert Godfrey." She added. Jamie frowned at his little robotic sister.

"Thanks a lot." He said, sounding broken and high pitched. "You should feel lucky that you'll never have to go through this!" He strained out. Vicki nodded and looked back over to Joan.

"Did Dad's voice change too?" She asked, curiously looking at Joan's neck. Joan got a little self conscious and felt around her throat as she answered.

"It sure did, he was a late bloomer too. When I met him he still sounded like Pee-Wee Herman!" Said Joan. Jamie laughed out and smiled. Joan looked down at Vicki, who still seemed transfixed on Joan's neck. "What is it, Vicki? Is there something on my neck?" Asked Joan. Vicki tilted her head and looked up.

"I think I see a contusion forming through your skin." Said Vicki. Joan raised an eyebrow.

"A contusion? What's that?" She asked, feeling around her throat again.

"A contusion is a bruise." Said Vicki, as she pointed to the spot on Joan's neck. Joan's eye's grew wider and she hopped up from her seat to check her reflection on the polished surface of a recently washed pan.

"Oh no!" Said Joan, as she looked at her neck. A not too terribly small yellowish patch had indeed begun to form right under her ear. "Oh this looks terrible! What's the faculty going to think!" She said in a panic. Jamie smiled a little and crossed his arms.

"They're going to think that it looks like exactly what it is, mom." He squeaked out. "A really gross love bite!" He said. Joan swung around and scowled at her son.

"Jamie! That's not at all what it is!" She hissed out. Vicki furrowed her brow and shook her head.

"What's a love bite?" She asked. Joan shook a finger at Jamie.

"Don't you dare Jamie!" She said. Then she turned her attention back to Vicki. "That's a conversation for later on Vicki, don't bring it up again, understand?" Asked Joan. Vicki gave her a nod.

"That's not gonna work, Mom, remember? She doesn't have to do the things that we tell her to do anymore." Said Jamie, through his cracking tone. Joan bit her lip and looked back into the pan.

"Well I trust her better judgment then… I can't go in with this on my neck- what am I going to do? I don't even know how I got it!…" Said Joan. She tried to recollect what might have given her the oddly placed bruise, but couldn't at all remember.

"You could put make up on it, that's what the girls in middle school always did." Squeaked out Jamie. Joan glanced over at him with squinted eyes, and Jamie put a finger into the air. "I mean that I think that's what they would do, if kids my age did things like that, that they weren't supposed to." Said Jamie, with a nod. Vicki looked between the two of them, at a complete loss.

"Nice save, Mr. congenial." Said Joan, as she stared back into the pan. "That make up isn't a bad idea though… maybe I'll try that…" She said. She put the pan down and walked towards the door just as Ted came into the kitchen. He stopped Joan and gave her an awkward sort of hug.

"Hello family!" He said proudly, as he hugged Joan, with his suitcase and jacket in hand. Jamie simply waved at him and left to go get his book bag from his room.

"Hello Pee-Wee." Said Vicki, as she followed Jamie out of the kitchen. Ted frowned and pouted his lip out as Joan wrestled out of his hug and started to leave as well.

"Et too, Joan?" He asked, sounding sad. Joan put her hand on her neck so that Ted couldn't see her slowly forming bruise.

"Not now Ted, I need a little more make up." She said, as she walked past him. The door swung shut and Ted was left standing alone in the kitchen. He sighed out and grabbed a piece of bacon off of the kitchen island, and bit into it with a slightly sad expression on his face. Vicki's cooking was getting ridiculously good, and Ted began to ponder the benefits of instilling cooking programs into the finished line of VICI's that Ted planned to present, sometime in the far off future. He took another strip of the bacon and made his way towards the back door as he chewed on the savory breakfast treat- only to open the door and come face to face with his next door nuisance, Brandon Brindle.

"Heya Teddy!" Said Brandon very cheerfully, as he entered the house uninvited. Brandon clapped his hands together and looked around the kitchen. "The family already check out?" He asked. Ted eyed Brandon in his usual way and tried to talk through the large amount of bacon in his mouth.

"Cad I hop Yule, Braided?" He asked. Brandon furrowed his brow and leaned in closer to Ted.

"What's that old man? I couldn't quite make that out?" He asked. Ted swallowed the bacon down and sighed out.

"Can I help you, Brandon?" He clarified. Brandon smiled and wringed his hands together.

"As a matter of fact, yes! Ted, I was hoping I could talk you into carpooling with me for awhile! You know it really saves a lot of money for everyone in the long run!" He said. "And I tell you what, we can park really close to the building now- what with my new parking spot~!" Said Brandon, very excitedly. Ted rolled his eyes a little, knowing full well that the Brindle swindle was upon him. He also knew Brandon was trying to show off about his newly attained parking permit.

"Gee, it sounds nice Brandon, but I really had my heart set on driving my new car to work this week. You know, break it in?" Said Ted, as he headed out of the door to the backyard. Brandon followed behind him, his eyebrow raised up.

"New car? When did you get a new car? And on what salary?" Asked Brandon. Ted hit a button on his new garage door opener and let the garage open up to the drive way. The experiments that had once taken over the garage were now all but gone, only the crane arm remained in it's place. Replaced by the other mechanisms was a shiny black, four door 1962 Plymouth Belvedere. It's shiny chrome bumper glinted in the sun, and it's rounded head lights almost seemed to glare at the two men. Brandon's mouth dropped open and his eyes grew bigger than Ted had ever seen.

"My grandpa left it to me in his will years ago. The executor of the will's been trying to contact me for ages about it, apparently he bought it and sealed it away right before he died. It's pretty much straight off the line, pretty cool huh?" Said Ted, trying hard to not show his glee at Brandon's envy. "The gas mileage isn't great though, all that gas gets sucked up pretty quick in that crazy six cylinder engine. Goes fast too." Said Ted.

"Huh." Said Brandon, looking as if he'd just been hit with a bolt of lightning. "Did he leave you anything else?" He asked absently. Ted put his hands in his pockets.

"Oh just a bunch of land near lake Tahoe, but we gave it away to a native American tribe up that way. Nothing much else besides that though. So what's this idea about carpooling? Are you trying to save some money?" Asked Ted. Just as Brandon was about to answer, Vicki stuck her head out of the back door of the Lawson house.

"Mom told me to tell you that we're leaving now." Said Vicki. Ted jogged over to the door to join Vicki.

"Hold that thought Brandon, I'll be right back!" He said, as he led Vicki back into the house. The two of them disappeared and left Brandon standing alone with the shining black car. Ted and Vicki made their way to the living room where Joan and Jamie were getting ready for their big first days. "Okay everyone!" Said Ted, as he got them all together in a little circle.

"Dad! What are you doing?" Asked Jamie, feeling a little claustrophobic in the cramped circle.

"It's a power circle! Just like they do on Broadway!" Said Ted, beaming down to Jamie. Then he gathered everyone even closer and got them all to put their arms around each other's shoulders. "Okay! Everyone have a good day! We're gonna be brave!" Said Ted.

"Right~!" Said Joan with a smile. She had patted some make up over her neck and felt a little more at ease with her situation. Ted gave her a big nod.

"We're gonna be smart!" Said Ted. Vicki gave a nod also.

"Right~!" She said. Ted smiled and looked down at Jamie.

"And we're gonna be the best!" Said Ted. Jamie squeaked back up at Ted.

"Right!" He answered, in his broken and cracking voice. Ted grimaced a little bit at the sound of his son's changing voice.

"Jamie, what happened? Are you coming down with something?" Asked Ted. Jamie frowned and shook his head, while Vicki answered for him.

"Jamie's voice is changing~ he said that it figures that it would be on the first day of high school." Said Vicki. Ted gave Jamie a sympathetic pat on the shoulder.

"Never mind that Jamie, there's going to be plenty of kids in that school with squeaky voices. All the ninth graders will be there too!" Said Ted, in a reassuring kind of tone. Vicki tilted her head to the side, realizing that she was lumped in with the general ninth grade student body. "All right everyone, hands in!" Said Ted, as he put his hand into the circle. Everyone put their hands on top of his.

"Ted, are you going to take that old car into work? It's barely even running yet…" Interjected Joan, as she placed her hand on the top. Ted shook his head.

"I'll either ride with Brandon or try to drive it downhill as far as I can. Don't worry about me, everyone- let's have a good day!" Said Ted. He turned to face Jamie. "And let's have it with style! Go team Monday!" He said with a big smile. Then they all threw their hands up into the air in synchronization.

"Go team Monday!" Said Joan, Jamie, and Vicki all at once.

"Now break~!" Said Ted, as Joan and the kids went out the front door, and Ted left for the back door. Ted closed and locked the back door behind him, and turned to find Brandon Brindle still standing right where he had left him. He sighed a little and rolled his eyes, and then walked over to Brandon as he remotely closed the garage door. "You know Brandon, I think I will take that carpool offer, there's no sense in both of us polluting the air." Said Ted. Brandon turned on his heels with a big smile on his face, and grabbed Ted by the shoulders very happily.

"Oh thank you! Thank you!" He said, a little more enthusiastically than seemed warranted. Ted raised an eyebrow and broke free from Brandon's hold.

"Brandon, please! It's just a car ride into work, it's not like I'm donating bone marrow to you!" Said Ted, as he threw on his jacket. Brandon smiled again and clapped his hands together before bringing the tips of his fingers to his mouth.

"Ah, actually Ted, the thing of it is, we'll have another passenger- and I'd just rather have you in the passenger's seat next to me!" Said Brandon. Ted shrugged and grabbed his suitcase.

"Suits me fine. What's one more passenger?" He said.

* * *

Joan pulled over the family's little silver BMW in front of the Valley high school, and turned around to her two children seated in the back. Jamie looked a little forlorn, and Vicki was digging through her backpack. Many new kids that Jamie had never seen before went bustling about, loudly talking and shouting as they went. He was keeping his eyes peeled for Reggie and Warren, but didn't see a trace of them.

"Do you know where to go first, you two? You're supposed to go to your homeroom." Said Joan. Jamie nodded and quietly gathered up his backpack.

"Our homeroom is the Chemistry Lab on the second floor, in 213. Our homeroom teacher is Mr. Perry." Said Vicki, as she produced a paper entailing the details of Jamie's and hers homeroom assignment. Joan nodded and smiled back at them both.

"Good! Okay you two! Jamie watch your sister as much as you can- and don't worry about the voice~!" Said Joan. Then she turned to Vicki. "The same goes for you Vicki." She said. Jamie and Vicki piled out of the car and stood by the curb in front of the school.

"Okay, I'll watch Jamie as much as I can too." Said Vicki. Joan laughed and waved at them both.

"I'll be back to pick you up at three!" She said, as she slowly drove off. Joan watched them in the mirror as she drove away, a little saddened that the both of them looked so grown up now. She sighed out as they disappeared into the throng of kids and then continued to drive her way to her own first day of school.

"I don't see Reggie or Warren anywhere!" Squeaked out Jamie. Vicki nodded and scanned the area. "Don't do that too much, Vicki. Try to look cool like the other girls." Said Jamie.

"Like the other girls." Repeated Vicki. Jamie nodded.

"Yeah, see how the don't look at anyone like they care? That's how the cool girls do it. Like they're totally over you the minute that you walk into the room." Squeaked Jamie. "And that's gonna be my high school romance in a nutshell." He added. Vicki tilted her head to the side.

"Okay, I can do that." She said. Then she straightened out her posture and nodded towards a gaggle of kids. "Here comes Warren." Said Vicki. Jamie smiled and spun around to see the familiar and welcomed face of the nerd in the gold rimmed glasses and the chubby build. He turned instead to see a tall skinny nerd in even worse looking black rimmed glasses, and a pocket protector.

"Hey Warren!" Jamie said, in a suddenly falsetto sounding voice. He furrowed his brow and rubbed his throat. "Boy you sure changed over summer vacation." Said Jamie. Warren smiled and stopped in front of the two of them.

"Sounds like you did a little too!" Said Warren, with a slightly lower voice than he had had before. Jamie frowned a little, noting that if he had been in a race for changing voices, his ending position was beginning to look more and more grim. "Hi Vicki!" Said Warren, a little hopeful tone in his voice. Vicki stuck her nose in the air, and promptly walked through the doors of Valley High.

"Don't take that too hard Warren, I was trying to teach her how to be like one of the popular girls." Said Jamie with a slight frown. Warren shrugged and the two of them entered into the doors as well.

"Don't worry, I'm used to it." Said Warren. "By now my heart has more scar tissue than Evil Kneival's whole body!" He said. Jamie laughed a little and looked around at the incredible amount of bodies in the school. It seemed almost impossible to get anywhere. The main floor seemed to split off in four directions, one direction to either left or right, and then two towards the back of the building. In the middle of the foyer, between the hallways to the back of the school was the big white open backed stairs to the second level.

"There's no way I'm getting past all these kids!" Said Jamie. Vicki, who had been standing in front of the doorway as Jamie and Warren had entered, also looked around in curiosity.

"Dad said that he wanted me to be as gentle as possible with the students and staff of the school." She said over to Jamie. She shook her head. "If I push any one of these students down, it may cause a chain reaction." She added. Jamie nodded and put his hands on his hips.

"No kidding! We're gonna need a pair of stilts to get to classes at his rate! I hope it's not like this every hour between classes." Said Jamie, straining his voice as he tried to sound more normal. As he scanned around the large foyer, Jamie caught a familiar face waving down excitedly at him from the white open back stairs. Reggie motioned frantically for them to join him, and Jamie looked around to try and find a way into the crowd.

"I think I'm going to try to find another way up." Said Warren. "Like from the outside fire escape." He said, as he turned and shuffled along with a slow moving mass of students. Vicki shrugged and looked over to Jamie.

"If we don't get through soon, we'll be late for class. On the first day~." Said Vicki. Just as Jamie was about to give a reply, the five minute warning bell rang out, and the entire gaggle of teenagers cleared out of the foyer in all directions. Reggie was pushed upward along the stairs- against his will, and disappeared amongst the pulsating mess of backpacks. Jamie and Vicki hurried up the stairs of the foyer, past the mid-level entrance to the school library, and continued up the left portion of the stairs towards the second floor.

"Oh man, I hope my locker isn't too far from here." Said Jamie, as they climbed the stairs upward. They came to the second floor and Vicki led Jamie to the chemistry lab. She had extensively studied the floor plans of the high school, and even knew the menu for the cafeteria for the full month ahead. They came to room 213 and entered into their new homeroom for the school year.

"Hey!" Said a boy, seated by the door. He handed them both a paper with a seating arrangement written on it. Jamie and Vicki of course, having the same last name were seated right next to one another. They found their seats and sat down, watching as more hapless looking students entered the door, some sticking around, some turning and running down the hall confusedly searching for the biology lab.

"Where did Reggie go?" Asked Vicki, to Jamie. Jamie shrugged and put his backpack on the ground next to his seat.

"I don't know." He squeaked out very quietly. "He must have a different homeroom than us." Said Jamie. Vicki nodded and then looked up behind Jamie as another student sat down behind him. Jamie turned with a smile to greet his new neighbor, only to find that he was already well acquainted with the person in question. His spiky dark red hair and slightly impish facial features filled Jamie with a dread that made his smile drop away completely. "Hey, Ernie." Said Jamie.

"Hey." He said back. Then he thrust his jaw a little over at Vicki. "Hi." He said. Vicki mimicked his movement and responded back to the one time bully.

"Hi." She said back. Vicki turned back around to face the front of the class, and recounted silently how she had lifted Ernie up onto a plant holder long ago, and how she had put a hole into the garage door next to him at Jamie's behest. She had found out later that that was what could be construed as a threat, and it had always seemed an odd transition to her that the next dealings she had had with Ernie was when she had dressed up for him and went on a very bizarre sort of date with him. All of this could be traced back to Jamie, of course, and as Vicki glanced over to her brother seated next to her, she could see on his face that he wasn't at all happy with the seating arrangement.

"Jamie!" Came Reggie's whispering voice from the doorway. Jamie smiled and went to get up from his seat, but Reggie waved him away. "Come find me at lunch! I'll be by the flag pole outside!" He whispered. Jamie nodded, and Reggie went slinking back down the hallway just as the bell rang. The students in the class kept on murmuring and giggling as a full minute went by. Jamie looked around out of the door to the lab and searched for any sign of the teacher. He looked to Vicki, who sat quietly looking towards the front of the room.

"Where the heck is this guy?" Asked Jamie. Vicki shrugged and pointed to the chalk board at the front of the lab.

"The chalk board reads, 'Sit down, zip it, and turn your desks around.'" Said Vicki. Jamie squinted to see the board and raised an eyebrow. He shrugged and the two of them turned their desks around in unison, causing a horrible screeching sound on the floor beneath them. Jamie smiled weakly at Ernie, who stared back at him with a funny look on his face. Eventually, it seemed that Ernie got the message on the board as well and turned his desk to face the back of the lab. Slowly but surely the talking and giggling ceased as all the students followed suit. There at the back of the lab, standing with his arms folded across his chest and wearing a long white lab coat, stood the homeroom teacher, Mr. Perry.

"Wow." He said, a little sarcastically, and clapping his hands. "That was astonishing to watch- I mean real riveting stuff. Better effort than our football team last year- and twice as fast." Said the teacher. He tromped forward, grabbing a large mug off of one of the lab tables as he went, and poured out some black hot liquid from a waiting Bunsen burner nearby. He continued forward sipping his coffee and sat down on the edge of the desk of a shy looking blonde haired girl. "ROLL CALL~! Call out your name, and say here. Go!" He said, as he pointed out to his first target.

"H-here!" Said the boy. Mr. Perry motioned to the boy to keep it coming. "Randy!" Said the boy, finally. Mr. Perry gave him the OK sign with his fingers and marked it down on his paper.

"Fantastic." He said, as he scribbled all over the paper. The shy blonde girl looked on and began to get a confused look on her face as Mr. Perry continued to scribble on the page. Finally, he dotted the paper with one fell swoop of his pen, and then turned towards Vicki. He pointed at her to go.

"Vicki, here." She said. Mr. Perry scribbled down on his paper some more, and glanced up over the sheet back in her direction.

"Vicki Lawson?" He asked. Vicki gave him a nod.

"Yes." She said. Mr. Perry sighed out and put his paper down in front of him.

"This is going to take forever- everyone just say your name and then say here!" He said, as he turned for his mug of coffee. The students did so, very happily. "Good!" He said, as he turned back with a bag of cough drops. He casually walked past Jamie and dropped three of them on his desk, before going to the chalk board. A horrible screeching and crunching sound filled the room as all the students turned their desks back to face him.

"Why did he give you those cough drops?" Whispered Vicki to Jamie. Jamie rubbed his throat and shrugged, his face turning a little red. Vicki returned her attention to Mr. Perry, and watched him as he began to write all the student names on the board in two separate columns. Slowly and methodically he began to draw lines between the names so as to connect them with each other, periodically looking back at some of the students and gritting his teeth in a strange sort of fevered thought. Vicki noticed that the science teacher's shoes clashed with the rest of his attire, in fact he and the P.E. teacher would probably be the only teachers in the whole school with bright orange and blue running shoes. Mr. Perry spun around on his heels and held his arms out as if he were Vanna White, showing off the chalk board.

"TA-DUH!" He sang out, as he wiggled his fingers. The class was silent, and confused. "It's your first day out of junior high, people~ do you really think that there's any way in the name of Schroedinger's cat that I'd let one of you go off alone into the deep, deep dark scary bowels of this school?!" Said Mr. Perry. Then he took out a large ball of yarn from his lab coat pocket and held it towards Vicki. Jamie smiled at his homeroom teacher's demeanor. It was a far cry from any of his past teachers. Vicki took the yarn and looked up at the teacher expectantly.

"What do you want me to do with this?" She asked. Mr. Perry motioned for the students to get up from their seats, and then held out a child friendly pair of pink plastic scissors to Vicki.

"Everyone find your partner on the board and go stand by them~! Come on, come on, show some hustle~!" Said Mr. Perry, as the students all scrambled to find each other. It was a difficult task, as they had barely even done the attendance roll call. Mr. Perry motioned to Vicki. "And you, pair em',tie em', cut em'." He said. Vicki nodded, and went over to start tying the student's together with the yarn. As Vicki hurriedly and accurately worked, Jamie found his partner and smiled. It was the shy blonde girl, who hid her hands behind her back as he approached.

"I don't get this! How are we supposed to go to the bathroom?!" Asked a snooty sounding girl, just as Vicki tied her up with a rather portly short boy.

"You should have thought of that before class." Said Vicki, as she cut the yarn off from the boy. The girl gave her a slight glare and then looked away in disgust from her partner. Vicki continued down the row of students, finishing on Jamie and the shy girl. She tied the knot on Jamie's wrist a little more snugly then everyone else's, and Jamie scrunched his mouth up.

"What was that for?!" He asked.

"Dad says you have a knack for spinning yarns. This should help keep you from spinning." Said Vicki, as she snipped the yarn. The rest of the students giggled slightly at her response. She went over to find her partner and began to tie his wrist up as well. Ernie looked back at her with a strange look on his face, and looked over at the homeroom teacher.

"Can we switch partners at all?" He asked, sounding annoyed. Vicki tied his wrist snugly too, making him wince a little. Then she tied her own wrist with ambidextrous expertise and snipped their yarn off.

"No." Said Mr. Perry, as he took his yarn and scissors away from Vicki. "Everyone acquaint yourselves good, these people are going to be your buddies from now until the end of the school year~!" He said. The students collectively groaned, and Mr. Perry took note of Ernie's distance from the petite girl in the yellow dress. He shook his head and motioned with both hands towards the door. "Out~!" He commanded.

"I'm Jamie~!" Whispered Jamie to the shy girl as they headed out of the room. He tried hard to disguise his cracking voice. The girl smiled back and nodded. An awkward moment passed, and Jamie wondered if the girl would ever give him her name back. Finally, as the rest of the kids poured out of the room, and Mr. Perry closed the lab door, she spoke up.

"I'm Vicki." She said.

* * *

Joan Lawson watched with a big smile on her face, as her eighth grade class slowly filled the room. There were a few faces that she recognized, some students she had seen in passing over the few years as she had been substituting for other classes. One student in particular came rushing into the doors and sat quickly at the head of the class- Harriet Brindle, who beamed up at Joan with a big reassured grin. The bell rang out and the students hushed themselves and took their seats.

"Good morning class~!" Said Joan, as she got up from her seat and went to the chalkboard.

"Good Morning Mrs. Lawson~." Responded the class. Joan started to write down all of the student's names on the board. She ended her scribbling and turned back around to face the class, a yardstick in hand. Joan tapped at the board with the stick as if she were General Patton, giving a debriefing to his troops.

"Everyone, I want you to look at the chalkboard and memorize it~ get to know each other! These are the people you're going to be spending the whole school year with!" She said, a little cheerfully. Harriet turned in her seat and started gabbing at the girl behind her, and the rest of the students followed suit. Very quickly the class had erupted into a constant stream of babbling and giggling. Joan sensed she was already losing the attention of the kids and smacked her yardstick against the board, bringing the students to a screeching halt. "I didn't say start yaking~! I said start memorizing it! Now, I'm going to call out the names on the board, and when I call your name I think it'd be nice if you'd stand up and tell the class a little bit about yourself." Said Joan, with a soft smile.

"How much is a little bit?" Asked Harriet. Joan rolled her eyes a bit at Harriet and smiled at her.

"Quite a bit less than you're used to, Harriet. Let's see if we can't find someone to give you a good example." Said Joan, as she turned to the board. She tapped at the upper right hand name on the board. "Oswald…" Read Joan. A boy sprang up in the back of the class and waved his hands around energetically.

"Ozzie!" He demanded. Joan gave him a slight nod and smile.

"Okay then, Ozzie. Tell us a little about yourself." Said Joan, as she sat down on her desk. Ozzie nodded back and lifted his shirt up to reveal his bare stomach, and a very nasty looking surgical scar.

"I'm Ozzie, and this summer vacation I had to have my appendix taken out!" He said, very proudly. The class gave out a collective groan of disgust, and Joan motioned for the boy to put his shirt back down. He did so, a little begrudgingly. "I also have a hedgehog named Norman, and my Dad is a narco-something or other- that means he can fall asleep at any time, even driving!" He said with a big smile on his face. Some of the students giggled, and he sat back down.

"Okay. Very informative~!" Said Joan, with some slightly raised eyebrows. "Harriet, why don't you give it a try?" She said. Harriet sat up from her seat and smiled a big cheesy grin at the rest of the class, and flipped her gigantic red ponytail over her shoulder.

"I'm Harriet~!" She sang. "I live right next door to Mrs. Lawson, and My daddy is her husband's boss~! Only he isn't very good at it anymore… now he mostly just bosses around the robots that he helps to make." Said Harriet. The class let out a murmur of awe.

"Your dad makes robots? For real?" Said a boy on the far side of the room. Harriet nodded big.

"Oh sure! They're mostly just arms and little cars though. I don't think they've ever made a real robot there." Said Harriet. Joan grimaced a bit, and patted Harriet on the shoulder gently with her yardstick.

"That's enough, Harriet." She said. Harriet shrugged and sat back down. Joan smiled at the boy at the far side of the room and looked back at the chalkboard for his name. "David?" She asked.

"Me!" Said the boy, David, situated at the far side of the room. "I'm David, and I just moved here with my family from Iowa. My Mom and Dad moved us here because my Uncle can't walk anymore, and we need to take care of him." He said, a little sadly. Joan frowned.

"Oh, well I'm sure we're all sorry to hear that… what happened to your Uncle, David, was he in an accident, is he okay?" She asked. David sat back down and nodded.

"Oh, he's okay Mrs. Lawson, he's just gotten too fat to walk around anymore. My Mom is putting him on a forced diet." He said. The whole class laughed out and Joan tapped her stick on the desk.

"That's enough~! I can see we've got ourselves a class clown." She said, as she turned back around to the board. Just as she was about to read the next name off of the board, Harriet cleared her throat. "Yes Harriet?" She asked.

"Mrs. Lawson, are you okay?!" Whispered Harriet. Joan turned back around to face Harriet, seeing the little red haired girl's huge eyes.

"Of course, yes- why?" Asked Joan. Harriet motioned slyly to her own neck, and Joan felt the color leave her face. The makeup had slowly come off during the morning hours. She sat back in her chair and did her best to not seem embarrassed about the little bruise. "Just a little bump with the car door- I'll live." Said Joan, hoping that the students wouldn't assume the worst.

"My mom had to put an extender on her seat belt because of that, too." Said Harriet. Joan sighed out and smiled. Harriet nodded and continued. "My daddy said it wouldn't matter whether she wore it or not anyways, and I said that he was setting a bad example. Then my Mom wrapped his seatbelt around him real tight! Everyone in the drive thru line got out of their cars! It was super embarrassing." She said. The class laughed out.

"I can imagine." Said Joan, grateful that Harriet had deflected the shame of Joan's tragically placed bruise. Harriet nodded.

"Uh huh. Now we're not even allowed near any MacDonald's. That's okay though, my Dad's driving is pretty scary sometimes." Said Harriet.

* * *

Ted Lawson would have agreed fully with Harriet's appraisal of her Father's driving prowess. Brandon Brindle's little blue car had nearly gone off of the road once already, and that had been very early on. Just turning off onto the main avenue, in fact. The little blue thing puttered down the road and jostled around it's two passengers inside. Ted watched the world go by from his passenger window, and raised an eyebrow as Brandon turned down an infrequently traveled road. The spooky road, according to Jamie.

"Who lives on this street?" Asked Ted, as he turned to Brandon. Brandon clicked his tongue and cleared his throat.

"Oh, you've already met him before… I think you know him better, actually." He said, sounding a tad nervous. "He's being sourced to our department you know. Straight up from the basement, where all the brainiacs are!" Said Brandon. Ted blinked and thought to himself about the worst possible person that it could be- hoping beyond hope that his assumption would be wrong. It wasn't wrong.

As Brandon Brindle stopped the car in front of a well kempt larger house, Ted's heart sank. The front door of the nearly mansion sized home opened up, and a very resentful looking man in a long white lab coat and black rimmed glasses stepped outside. He locked the door and went trotting down the stairs towards Brandon's car, Ted watched him eagerly as he approached. The egghead in the white lab coat opened the car door and sat directly behind Ted, shutting the car door behind him as he looked around the car's interior with a fair amount of disdain. Ted met eyes with his estranged coworker, Herbert Winston, and tried his best to smile warmly at him.

"Lawson." Said Herbert, very flatly. "Mr. Brindle, I hope this thing is road safe- that seatbelt doesn't look too reliable." He said, as he sat back and looked out the window. Brandon chuckled and pulled away from the house and back towards the main road. Brandon seemed reticent to spark up any conversation with Herbert Winston at all, apparently still terrified of the little man. Ted shook his head and looked at his next door neighbor, narrowing his eyes as he began to realize that Brindle's need to carpool with Ted was simply to have someone else in the car to deflect Herbert towards. Ted didn't appreciate it one bit. He turned in his seat and looked at Herbert in the rear view mirror.

"Dr. Winston! I hear from Brandon that you'll be joining us upstairs?" Said Ted, hoping to end the silence of the road trip. Herbert Winston shook his head and glared out of the window as Brandon sped by other slower cars on the road. More silence followed, and as Brandon turned on to the exit toward United Robotronics, Ted thought back on his first meeting with Herbert Winston.

It had been a few years prior, when Ted had needed some faster software for his project concerning a robotics Expo. Mr. Winston, or rather, Dr. Winston, had been very reluctant to free up any space for Ted's projects and it had turned ugly. Ugly enough that Ted and Dr. Winston had avoided each other successfully for almost two years! In any event, the three men now forced into a confined space for a lengthy period of time had fallen completely quiet. It seemed as though everyone was thinking about the same subject, the subject of Dr. Winston's strange new move to their department.

"Jennings seems to think that my expertise could be better applied upstairs." Said Herbert, finally breaking the deafening silence. "I think more likely the idiots downstairs got tired of me constantly correcting their work for them- I wouldn't do it so much if they weren't always so brazenly incorrect in their formulas and executions." He finished with a scoff. The car was silent again, and as they passed by the Valley High school, Ted wondered how his son Jamie, and cybernetic daughter Vicki were fairing on their first day.

Ted turned and faced Herbert, watching him scribble something down in a tiny notepad. The car jerked as Brandon swerved to avoid a small rock in the street, and Herbert's pen zipped wildly across his page. Disheartened by the mess on his page, the good doctor sighed and dropped his notepad onto the seat next to him. Ted turned back and looked at Brandon, who in turn was not at all focusing on the road- he was instead intent on the radio controls of the car stereo, and finally with some effort caused music to erupt forth from his tinny sounding speakers. It was a song about having drinks and drives, and going out to see what one could find in the summertime, and Herbert Winston was not amused. Brandon smiled and began bopping his head happily to the beat as the little blue car sped past the high school and onwards towards the office.

* * *

There was an awkwardness between Jamie and the shy girl, Vicki. She didn't seem to want to talk at all, and Jamie didn't want to think about how strange it was that he found her much less attractive once he had learned that she shared his sister's name. It was creepy, and moreover- she wore her hair up much as his sister Vicki would at times. Jamie listened very intently to Mr. Perry as the homeroom class walked the halls of the Valley High tied to one another, very careful not to meet eyes with the shy Vicki tied to himself. The class stopped in front of the gym and Mr. Perry turned on his heals and dramatically swiped his hand across his neck, giving them a shush sign.

"Quiet now, this is where all the real education takes place. Whatever you do- and I mean, **whatever you do** , make sure you participate in all the reindeer games they throw at you in there. You wouldn't believe how many students have to scramble to make up an 'F' in gym just because they didn't throw on some sweatpants and toss around an inflated ball made of dead pigskin. Don't be that student." Mr. Perry finished saying, looking directly at Jamie. Jamie raised his eyebrows in surprise, but the teacher continued before Jamie could address it. They all followed Mr. Perry further down the hallway towards the 'Home Etc.' rooms, where the teacher continued his banter, explaining the ins and outs of getting to know the building.

Vicki had already made a digital overlay of the school in her internal visual display. She had begun to apply Mr. Perry's words and explanations of the different classrooms to her map as she and her tied up buddy, Ernie, followed along behind the teacher with everyone else. As the chemistry lab home room shuffled down the corridors of the high school, another herd of shuffling students came from around a bend in the hallway and the two classes made a slow collision with each other. Mr. Perry and the other mustachioed gray haired teacher exchanged greetings with each other, and the students all began to chatter and greet friends from the other class.

"Jamie!" Whispered Reggie. Jamie smiled and waved at him as they passed each other, forgetting that the shy blonde girl was still tied to his hand. She waved involuntarily at him as well, and Reggie smiled back as he disappeared into the crowd of kids next to him. Soon another voice called out towards Jamie, and he peered into the other class to see who it was. A tallish girl tugged on Jamie's shirt and she smiled at him.

"Jamie! You're tied to my b-best friend in the whole wide world!" Said the girl at him. Jamie's mouth slowly dropped open as he realized who the girl was. The shy blonde girl spoke up and lifted her hand so that she could show her tied up wrist.

"Hi Paula!" Said the blonde Vicki. "I'm all tied up." She said with a slight humorous tone in her voice. Paula Preston nodded and smiled at the both of them and put her hands on her hips.

"Well, you better treat her n-nice, Jamie Lawson. I know where you live!" She said jokingly, as she rejoined the rest of her classmates. She gave a tiny wave and then gave Jamie a weird look. Jamie snapped out of his disbelief and closed his mouth. Mr. Perry's class had began to continue without Jamie and the shy girl, and the two rushed to catch up with them. Mr. Perry turned at the sound of the quick pattering feet, but missed Jamie and the blonde Vicki running to the class. He seemingly did a quick head count, narrowed his eyes at the giggling class, and then turned sharply on his heels, pointing to the outside door exits.

"Out~!" He said, as he opened the door for the kids. Two by two, the home room went clamoring out of the door and onto the field behind the school. A massive running track wrapped around what looked to be a football field, and a baseball diamond far off in the distance looked in some disrepair. Vicki looked around the outdoor area and noted that much of the equipment, bleachers included, seemed very used- which didn't seem to correlate to how new the rest of the building was. Vicki raised her hand, and the class laughed. Mr. Perry huffed out. "Question?" He asked at her. Vicki gave him a nod and turned her attention back to the field.

"Why does everything look so old and used up, if the school building itself isn't that old?" She asked. Mr. Perry raised his eyebrows and scratched his chin. He took a moment and looked around the area too.

"That's the magic of tax dollars being misappropriated. You'll learn all about that in government class." Said Mr. Perry with a slight sigh. Vicki gave him a quizzical look, but the teacher moved on towards the cafeteria's opened glass doors. The class trekked on after him, murmuring and giggling as they went. They all reached the doors of the cafeteria and Mr. Perry again turned around to talk at them. "Everyone gather round! This is very important so listen! You'll notice you're allowed to eat outside now- pretty cool, I know- but there are rules of etiquette to eating outside." Said Mr. Perry.

The homeroom teacher continued his talking, but Vicki's attention was stolen away by something very odd. Her visual overlay suddenly displayed a string of radio authentication codes. Vicki looked around the field and at her classmates, suspecting that someone had a walkie-talkie hidden on their person. She shifted around uneasily, checking the radio code and stood nearly motionless while she tried to listen to Mr. Perry.

"And for god sakes, don't ask what's in those things- I'm a chemistry teacher and I still don't know for sure." He finished. He beckoned for the class to follow him into the doors and they did so.

"Come on, what's the matter with you?" Said Ernie, tugging on Vicki's shoulder. Vicki looked up at him and around the field again. The radio authentication had vanished, and the rest of the class had filed into the cafeteria.

"I'm sorry." Said Vicki, a little flatly. Then she led the two of them into the doors to join the rest of the class. Jamie gave her a quick concerned look and then returned his attention to the teacher.

"Thus ends the tour of your next four years of life. Hope you enjoyed it." He said. Then he whistled at Vicki, tossing the child safe plastic scissors at her. She caught them with one hand and looked up at him. "Un-buddy everyone would you?" He asked. She nodded and went to work cutting the strings from their wrists. The students gripped their wrists, thankful that the yarn had been removed at last.

"Well what now?" Asked Jamie, as Vicki cut the yarn from between him and the shy girl. Mr. Perry smiled, almost a little impishly, and turned towards the hallway.

"Now, our twenty five minutes are up and you all get to use your extensive knowledge of the school to get to your next class in about…" He began. A loud bell rang, and the halls began to fill with students. Mr. Perry's homeroom class fell into a hurried panic, as Vicki struggled to cut the rest of the yarn from the students. The last got freed and they all scampered off to their respective classes. Except for Vicki. She turned once more towards the open doors of the cafeteria and looked around at the field. The radio authentication code was gone, and the field seemed completely empty. She tilted her head and turned around, heading back into the school and to her next class.

* * *

Not too far across town, Joan Lawson was having her own unusual episode. The unfortunately placed bruise upon her neck was showing through her make up, and so it left Joan with little alternative than to use the one thing that Joan had sworn to never use again since she had been in High School herself. An ascot. Joan begrudgingly tied the little purple scarf around her neck and sighed out. At least it went with the rest of her outfit, and it was only a half day today, so the pain of decade old fashion statement would be quick lived. She checked herself in the mirror one more time and gave herself a positive nod before heading out of the teacher's lounge bathroom.

"Mrs. Lawson! I love that shawl! Where'd you get that?" Asked an older science teacher. She looked at Joan's ascot with discerning eyes, as she sipped at her coffee. Joan smiled weakly at the kindly old lady.

"Oh, I've had this thing lying around for years, just thought I'd give it some air time." Said Joan. The older lady nodded and gulped down her coffee. Joan sat at the table and felt at her neck, noting that the bruise didn't actually hurt that much. She did have to wonder exactly when she got the mark- it had to have been the day prior, either by lugging the laundry around, or maybe by cradling the phone with her shoulder… it wasn't immediately obvious, but she knew it had been yesterday during the day.

"Enjoying the first day, Mrs. Lawson?" Asked another teacher who had appeared in the lounge without Joan's noticing. She turned to face the physical education instructor, Mr. Mallet, and smiled up at him.

"Oh it's going okay enough I guess. I'm glad they fixed the air conditioning during summer break- you can hardly even smell the cafeteria anymore!" Said Joan. The slightly stocky man nodded and turned around to pour himself a cup of crude black coffee from the ancient faculty coffee urn. He took a sip of it as he turned back towards Joan and the older teacher, and made a face at it's acidity. He flopped down in the seat kitty corner to Joan and continued his assault on his tongue.

"Funny thing having these classes mixed up like this. I don't think it will last long." Said the frumpy Mr. Mallet. "I can't make a sixth grader run a whole mile- it's child abuse!" Joan nodded absently, paying more attention to her ascot than to Mr. Mallet's words. The knot wouldn't stay quiet tight enough, and the ascot kept running down Joan's neck.

"Ooh, Mrs. Lawson, looks like you're getting a bit of a bruise." Said the older lady. Joan covered her neck with the palm of her hand and blushed a little. Her face went a little cold and she could feel the embarrassment rising up within her.

"It's not what it looks like!" Began Joan, rubbing her neck. "I'm not sure how I got it…" She said. Mr. Mallet nodded and inspected Joan's arm.

"Might have been a door frame- I've had a few jump out and bite me before." He said. Joan looked at him a little confusedly and then looked down at her right arm. Another bruise had appeared on her forearm, in a very bizarre round spot. She sat there staring at it, while feeling the bruise on the left side of her neck, wondering what in the world she had done to warrant such mistreatment from the universe. The five minute bell rang and the older lady and Mr. Mallet both sprang out of their chairs.

"You could go to the nurse in between next hours, she'll have an ice pack for that!" Said the older science teacher, as she left out of the teacher's lounge door. Joan frowned and bit her lip, following the two teachers out into the busy hallway full of children. She made her way to her waiting class room and sat down at her desk, tying her ascot tight around her neck once more. The students all looked at her in silence, ready to start the next hour- but Joan halfway wondered if they weren't staring at her purple scarf and slowly turning purple arm. The second bell rang out and Joan smiled at the class.

"Good morning everyone~!" She said happily. The class returned the greeting with muffled and worn out sounding responses. "Oh don't tell me you're all tired already! You've only got one hour to go in the day!" Said Joan, as she stood up. She moved to go to the black board, but instead bumped her knee loudly on her desk. The class gasped out in unison as she rubbed her angry knee cap.

"Are you all right Mrs. Lawson?" Asked a concerned girl in the front row. Joan smiled weakly and nodded, hobbling to the black board.

"I'm okay- it's not the first time!…" Began Joan. She grimaced as she thought of the new bruise forming on her knee, and Joan wondered if she wasn't becoming more clumsy with age. But she wasn't that old. Was she? Joan turned back to the class and smiled again. Joan's two children were now in high school- HIGH SCHOOL- all of these children were younger than Jamie! She loosened the knot on her ascot and turned back to the board. Joan wasn't just getting older, she was already there!

* * *

Ted shifted uneasily in his chair, uncomfortable with Brandon's proximity to him in the staff meeting room. Mr. Jennings was late, but everyone knew enough to stay put. The hydraulics and computer science department chatted and murmured over trivial things, waiting for the meeting to begin. Brandon Brindle meanwhile kept shuffling through papers as if he were busy- Ted knew of course that he was just bored. Bored, and possibly trying to stay awake. There was one new body in the Hydraulics and computer science department today however, and the glowering little egg head in his white lab coat impatiently sighed out and turned in his seat to stare at the clock on the wall.

Herbert Winston was an impetuous young thing, and everyone in the department was hopeful that his stay would be very temporary. None more than Ted, who had only just barely survived the carpool to work. Winston still had it in for him, he just knew it. Maybe he had even set this up somehow, a very round about way of revenge on Ted for his humiliating defeat in the arcade some years ago. There was no way of knowing for sure.

It had been a very ugly encounter with the young Dr. Winston, those two or so years ago. Ted had let Vicki compete against him in a regional competition of the popular arcade game, "Pac-Man", and so intimidating were the skills of his secretly robot daughter that Herbert Winston faltered in his high score placement. It was an event that had buzzed around United Robotronics for quite a while, and Dr. Winston had never been truly the same afterwards. His crushing defeat by a seemingly average twelve year old girl had affected his ego immensely, and it was no secret that his co-workers relished in the change that had occurred. Still, Ted felt that a comeuppance might be in the works from the good doctor, and now that the two men found themselves in the same department it seemed more and more likely that it would come to a head very soon.

"Gooooood Morning!" Sang out Mr. Jennings as he walked into the meeting room. The department returned his greeting with likewise enthusiasm. Mr. Jennings clapped his hands together and took a seat at the head of the meeting table. He sat in his big cushy black leather chair and wore a huge contented smile on his face. "Well, I'm sure everyone has noticed by now the new face in the hydraulics and computer science department! Everyone say hello to Mr. Winston~!" He said, waving his hand towards Herbert. Herbert gave a curt somewhat fake smile in response and produced from his shirt pocket a yellow number 2 pencil.

"Hmm." Said Herbert, as if to acknowledge all the hellos thrown his way. Mr. Jennings smiled and sat forward in his chair.

"Mr. Winston is from our think tank downstairs, Games and Magic. I've elected to bring him up here with your fine department so that he can help with a new project that I think can really benefit from his expertise. People, we've been given a multi million dollar project by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency!" Said Mr. Jennings very proudly. A murmur went through the room, and Ted looked around at everyone else, equally as excited and confused as he was. "As you know, any government contracts we get can't be discussed outside of this building- I trust you're all familiar with our regulations on the subject. This is a huge milestone- not just for United Robotronics, but for the entire world of Robotics as a whole!" He said, in a very dramatic flair. Ted sat forward, enticed by the idea that his company would finally be doing something that could help to put robotics into the public's mind.

"Well what is it?" Asked Brandon Brindle, too excited to contain his glee. He knew, as everyone knew that completing a government contract would mean big bucks for the company- which in turn meant huge bonuses for the departments involved in it's successful completion. Ted smiled at Brandon's childish enthusiasm and glanced over at Herbert. He didn't seem excited or amused at all.

"Gentlemen, DARPA has chosen us to supply them with state of the art security doors!" Said Mr. Jennings. The murmur ceased.

"Security doors?!" Called out a short disgruntled looking hydraulics expert. Mr. Jennings looked around at the table full of almost dismayed faces.

"Yes! State of the art ones! These won't be your father's run of the mill security doors- no sir! We're talking facial recognition programs!" Said Mr. Jennings, pointing directly at Ted. Ted perked up, astonished that Mr. Jennings would know about his dabbling in the new software. "We're talking artificially intelligent doorways that can spot intruders!" He continued, this time pointing at Herbert. Herbert snapped his yellow number 2 pencil in half at the comment, making Mr. Jennings clear his throat. Herbert meanwhile, had produced another pencil from his pocket.

"S-sounds great!" Said the man sitting next to Dr. Winston. "When do we start the project?" Mr. Jennings sat up in his chair and turned his attention away from the egghead with the pencil in his hands.

"This next coming week, on Monday. You're all going to have project folders and assignments courtesy of our very own Mr. Brindle." Said Mr. Jennings, as he held his hand towards a beaming Brandon. Snap! Herbert had broken his other pencil. The gray haired owner of the company sighed out and put his hands on the table. "Of course you know this means big changes within the department for the next few months as well, as some of you will still need to be on hand for hydraulics and computer needs. Anyone who volunteers for the extra workload will get a little something extra themselves~." He finished, as he turned fully to Herbert Winston. Herbert smiled weakly at him.

"Sounds great." Said Herbert, in a tone mocking the man next to him. Ted gulped. It seemed the Herbert Winston was back to his old congenial self, and worse, Ted would be dealing directly with him for the next few months. Mr. Jennings gave him a stern nod and got up from his chair.

"Dismissed~!" He said in his most stately voice. The room slowly emptied and Ted found himself waiting in line to exit right behind Brandon Brindle. As the two finally vacated the room, Brandon turned to Ted and whispered at him in a slightly too loud hush.

"Can you believe that Winston? What a jerk!" He said to Ted. "Just what is his _expertise_ anyways?" Asked Brandon. Ted cringed, knowing full well that Herbert was just behind him in line, and well within hearing range.

"My expertise is having thoughts, Mr. Brindle. That's why they call it a _think_ tank." Came Herbert Winston's voice from behind Ted. Brandon shut his eyes and gritted his teeth- having made a fool of himself yet again. Herbert walked from behind Ted and gave a thin lipped smile to Brandon, as Brandon nervously laughed back at him. "Don't worry Mr. Brindle, I've become accustomed to such pet names, and inner department hazing. I assume this department is in good spirits, correct?" Said Herbert. Brandon laughed out and clasped his hands together.

"Good spirits? Good spirits! Of course! Why Teddy and I are always joking like that- aren't we old man?" Said Brandon, knocking Ted playfully in the arm. "Our department's the funnest one! Everyone says so!" He said. Ted crossed his arms and rolled his eyes slightly.

"Yep, Brandon. Hydraulics and computer science is the happiest place on earth." Said Ted, a little weary of the carpool ride home. "Lighthearted fun, through and through." He said. Brandon nodded cheerfully and stood with his hands in his pockets. Herbert smiled his somewhat fake looking smile and gave his strange scoffing sort of chuckle, and then proceeded to give Brandon a very awkward pat on the back as he passed by him.

"Well then, I can't wait to get started with your department! As you say Mr. Brindle, it's the 'funnest'?" He said, with his weasel-like smile. With that he left down the hall. Brandon's shoulders drooped and he breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Whew! I think I got off easy that time." Said Brandon, as he turned and watched the esteemed Dr. Winston leave down the hallways of United Robotronics. Ted looked on and smiled ear to ear, silently laughing to himself over the 'KICK ME' sign that Herbert had affixed to Brandon Brindle's back.

* * *

Back across town at the Valley High School, poor Jamie Lawson cleared his throat and prayed that his voice would come out more naturally than it had in his Algebra 1 class. He swallowed hard and looked at the lunch lady standing in front of him.

"Well?" Came the surly voice of the rather large lady. Jamie smiled. Here went nothing.

"A pizza slice please." He squeaked out. The lady plopped a slice of greasy looking pepperoni pizza on his plate, and shooed him onward. Jamie took his slice and sighed out, looking around the incredibly crowded cafeteria for his robotic sister, Vicki. They had been separated after homeroom, and whereas Jamie had gone to World History 1, Language Arts 1, And then to Algebra 1- Vicki had her own schedule. She had attended Advanced Placement Algebra, Advanced Placement History, and then (strangely enough) Home etc. 1. Jamie sincerely hoped that she was having an easy time of it, being on her own for real, maybe for the first time ever.

He found Vicki coming down the hallway towards him, followed closely by Paula Preston and her shy friend. Jamie's mouth involuntarily opened, as he looked the former stuttering snob up and down. Paula had definitely grown taller, and she looked pretty enough to be in one of those calgon soap commercials on T.V. Paula spotted Jamie and pointed to him for Vicki, who in turn smiled at him and came bounding up to him.

"Jamie~ did you have an easy time finding your way around the classes today?" Asked Vicki, the monotone slipping from her voice. Jamie smiled and nodded.

"Sure Vicki. What's it like being on your own in class now?" Asked Jamie. Vicki shook her head at him.

"Warren is in my Advanced Algebra class, and my Advanced History Class. He won't stop talking to me and staring at me. So I'm not really on my own at all" She said with a hint of annoyance to her tone. Jamie nodded and beckoned for her to follow him.

"Great! I'm going to go see Reggie out by the flagpole, do you wanna come too?" He asked. Vicki nodded and followed behind him, as she waved to Paula and the other Vicki.

"Bye Vicki!" Sang out Paula. Then she waved at Jamie too. "Bye Jamie~!" She added. Jamie smiled big and nearly dropped his pizza slice trying to wave back, making Paula and the shy girl laugh out. Jamie blushed and hurried his pace towards the main foyer.

"Where'd you meet up with Paula again?" Asked Jamie, finally regaining his composure and turning around to look at Vicki. She smiled back at him, and he was genuinely taken aback by how not robotic she was acting.

"Paula and her friend Vicki both attend the home etc. class that I do in third hour. We all sit together at one of the study tables." Said Vicki. Then she produced a blueberry muffin from her back pack, wrapped in saran wrap, and handed it towards Jamie. Jamie stopped and took the muffin in hand.

"What's this?" He asked. Vicki shrugged.

"The Home etc. teacher wanted to see what each of us knew about baking, so I baked a blueberry and cream cheese muffin. You can have it~!" Said Vicki. Jamie put the muffin on his plate and eyed his sister with some scrutiny. Everything about Vicki was not at all like Vicki should be. She seemed very much _normal_. Vicki caught his look and she straightened out.

"Thanks." Squeaked out Jamie. He rubbed his throat again and they continued out of the building's big front doors and down to the flagpole out front. Reggie was indeed waiting by the flagpole, eating the same kind of pizza that Jamie had. He caught sight of Jamie and smiled and waved at him.

"Jamie! You got out alive!" Said Reggie jokingly. Jamie nodded and sat down on the large round concrete base of the pole, followed closely by Vicki. Reggie glanced over at her and gave her a quick smile. "How you doing, Vicki?" He asked, as he moved his backpack in order to give her a place to sit.

"I think I'm doing okay, some of the other kids in my advanced placement algebra class said that I was going to be the teacher's pet." She said with a smile, sitting down next to Reggie. Reggie smiled and looked over at Jamie to his right, then looked back at Vicki to his left. Vicki furrowed her brow slightly and looked down at some busy ants toiling over a bit of bread. "The kids in my advanced placement history class said the same thing…" She added.

"It must be weird not having your mother teach your lessons to you, huh?" Asked Reggie, chuckling slightly and chewing down some of his pizza. Vicki seemed to ignore his question, instead she dug through her backpack again and produced yet another blueberry muffin from her previous class. She placed the muffin on Reggie's plate without so much as a word and then stared off into space. Reggie picked the muffin up and looked at Jamie.

"She made those last hour in Home Etc." Said Jamie, his voice breaking awkwardly at the end. Jamie sighed out and shook his head, rubbing his neck as he cleared his throat. Reggie laughed out and put the muffin back on his plate.

"Man Jamie! You sound like a cross between Peewee Herman and Tweety Bird!" Said Reggie, laughing aloud at Jamie's changing voice. Jamie scrunched his mouth up.

"Thanks for the support." He said, his voice cracking again. "Let's see how nice I am when this happens to you!" He croaked out. Reggie shook his head and laughed again.

"Are you kidding? My voice is already as smooth as caramel on peanut butter! You can't improve on perfection, Jamie." He said. Jamie bit into his pizza and sighed out. "How long is it gonna last?" Asked Reggie. Jamie shrugged.

"Probably the rest of my life." He said, a little salt in his tone. He looked over at Reggie who seemed to be closely inspecting the blueberry muffin. Jamie watched as Reggie gingerly took a sniff at the confection, then cast a quick glance at Vicki. For the briefest of seconds, Jamie thought that he had caught his best friend appraising his little servo and wire sister. It made him even more uneasy however when Reggie 'accidentally' dropped the muffin to the ground.

"Aw man!" Said Reggie, as he scrambled to pick it up. Vicki bent down towards the muffin to help him pick it up from the ground, and their heads nearly collided on the way down- and they probably would have collided if not for Reggie quickly veering away from her. Jamie watched on and chewed his ghastly slice of pepperoni pizza, not sure what to make of the scene in front of him. "Sorry Vicki." Said Reggie, as he swiped the remaining crumbs off of the flag pole base.

"It's okay, I can make more muffins." Said Vicki. Reggie nodded and looked over to Jamie.

"What do you guys have left? I have gym and then biology." Asked Reggie. Jamie nodded.

"Me too! Do you have Mr. Perry?" Asked Jamie, a little excited at the prospect of having a class with his best bud. Reggie nodded happily.

"Yeah! Right on, so we have a couple of classes together!" Said Reggie. Vicki nodded and spoke up.

"I have gym class and then biology with Mr. Perry also." She said, sounding happier than usual. Jamie spotted a strange look in Reggie's face as he gave Vicki what could only be described as a forced smile.

"Neat… so we have two classes together." Said Reggie. Jamie looked between the two of them, a little distressed at the very odd vibe he was getting. Reggie obviously wanted nothing to do with Vicki for some reason.

"She would've been in the AP biology too, but they didn't have enough students that made the grade." Said Jamie, a little hoarsely and sarcastically. Vicki nodded in agreement and then went back to looking at her ants, as Jamie and Reggie kept conversing about their school days.

Vicki couldn't aptly describe it, with her very basic almost non existent emotional contexts, but something was definitely 'bothering' her. She was almost eighty nine percent certain that most if not all but one of the other students in her AP classes didn't like her. At the very least, they seemed to receive her in a very unenthusiastic manner. The way the kids had been looking at her reminded Vicki of the way that Reggie now looked at her too. Had she done something wrong? She had been checking over her bubble memory module looking for anything to shed some light on the subject, but she had no basis of comparison. They simply didn't like her. Except for Warren, who seemed unable to stop looking at her for any length of time- he probably did like her.

"Come on Vicki! You don't want to be late to gym, remember what Mr. Perry said." Said Jamie, waking Vicki up from her tracking of ants. The lunch period was already over, and Reggie and Jamie were already making their way down to the front doors. She got up and quickly followed them.

"We've got to play in all the reindeer games." Said Vicki, as she bounded up behind Jamie. Just as she had finished her sentence, another radio code flashed up on her visual display. This time the code did authenticate, against Vicki's will, and it was much more clear and it's message was more easily deciphered. So easily in fact, that the radio transmission actually became audible to both Jamie and Reggie. The bizarre electric guitar music quietly resonated in the large doorway of the building, and Jamie looked at Reggie in a panic.

"Uh…" Began Jamie. Reggie put his hands on his hips.

"That's the weirdest sounding indigestion I've ever heard." Said Reggie, as he raised an eyebrow. Jamie nervously laughed out.

"Vicki, what are you doing? I thought you weren't going to bring your walkman with you to school…" Said Jamie, as he motioned to Vicki with his hands to stop the bizarre music. "You know how mom gets about you listening to too much of that rock and roll!" He added, hoping that his best friend was buying his excuse.

"Sorry." Said Vicki as she unzipped her bag and began digging through it. Inside her parallel processing unit, Vicki speedily went through her radio communications files and found the corresponding signature that was seemingly taking over her audio output functions. She hastily deleted the file and the music stopped abruptly. She shook her book bag for effect and nodded at Jamie. "It's off~!" She said. Jamie gave her a look and shook his head. Meanwhile Reggie had crossed his arms and was standing by, watching the show that the two put on for him.

"You guys are so weird sometimes." He said, scoffing a little. "I'm gonna run to gym, I'll see you there!" Added Reggie, as he turned and waved at them. Jamie and Vicki both waved back as Reggie started into the building and jogged down the hallway towards the gymnasium. Jamie turned to Vicki on his heels.

"Vicki! What the heck was that about?!" He asked, his voice breaking from the stress of the situation. "Where did that music come from?" Vicki shrugged and shook her head.

"That was a radio file playing on my audio output, someone is connecting to my radio communication network." She said, sounding a little distressed herself. "That's not supposed to happen." She added. Jamie huffed out.

"Well you can't let it happen again! Geez, imagine if that had happened in class! Can you at least turn the volume down on it?" Said Jamie. Vicki gave him a big nod.

"I can mute the radio function so that only I can hear it." She said. She internally went about shutting down her audio output and focused her attention back on Jamie. "I did it, now no one else can here any radio transmissions." Jamie sighed out in relief.

"Good! Now let's go to gym- and remember Vicki!" Said Jamie as he jabbed his finger on her shoulder. "Just do what everyone else is doing, no faster or stronger- just like dad said! Got it?" Said Jamie. Vicki nodded and then jabbed Jamie back in the shoulder gently, to show him that she fully understood.

"Got it." She said.

* * *

Some months prior, Ted Lawson had been updating his magnificent mechanical marvel of a daughter, Vicki. He had completely restructured her back access circuit panel into a very nicely camouflaged nearly invisible access complete with an easier to use modular circuit board and a handy rotating disc drive newly integrated into her panel. At a normal glance when the access was closed, it looked as normal as any other person's back would. Ted had secured a new kind of silicone matte material for the new project at home, and found that it masked Vicki's panel access very successfully- and with her new disc drive Vicki seemed to be just a little faster on the draw.

At one time, she would have had trouble with multiple commands that conflicted with each other, but with her new drives and extended memory (Ted had happily been one of the few people in America to reserve and purchase a 16 megabit chip, ten of them to be precise) she was able to comeback to several commands at once and prioritize her actions accordingly. She was faster, stronger, and better. Except for the stronger part.

That would always be a technical issue that Vicki would have to work around. She had been built with the idea that she might have to move furniture easily on her own, or an elderly person from a chair to a bed, and unfortunately Ted just didn't know exactly how much raw power Vicki would need for those tasks. Her tiny under five foot size belied her 122 pound weight, even more deceiving was her muscular strength, and as Vicki stood in front of the basket ball at her feet she found herself utilizing more math than she had done during her AP algebra class earlier in the day.

"Pick up the ball kid! Come on!" Said a very tall blonde boy. He looked impatient at the shrimp of a girl in front of him. "Just throw it!" He commanded.

"Throw it." Vicki repeated. Vicki picked the basketball up and turned it over in her hands. She listed her directives as she brought the ball up above her head, in a perfect free throw stance. Throw the ball: Do not throw the ball harder than any other student: Calculate arc and rotational force: Deliver ball through top of 'basket': Throw like a girl: at the last directive, Vicki remembered Jamie telling her how to look more natural during gym class, so she readjusted her grip on the ball and instead of a perfect free throw shot, she took a wild looking over the head double handed toss towards the basket. The blonde boy sighed out as he watched the spectacle in front of him.

"Good effort." He said, trying to not sound too mean. He didn't mind playing buddy to a freshman, but having gotten the short end of the stick and being stuck with the girl was beginning to drive the tall senior a little mad. He watched as the ball wobbled through the air and hit the rim of the basket. Vicki and the boy both watched in silence as the ball slowly teetered on the rim, finally falling into the basket. The boy put his arms up in exasperation. "Unbelievable. What do you call a throw like that?" Said the boy, sounding almost a little peeved. Vicki shrugged at him.

"Beginner's luck." She said. The boy shook his head and bent down to retrieve the rolling ball, unawares of an unchecked basketball speeding towards his face. The ball had ricocheted off of the back board opposite he and Vicki, and it was in full nose crushing flight. Vicki had spotted the flying ball and she quickly caught the ball with one hand just inches from the boy's ear. He stood back up, having missed both the ball and Vicki's super human reflexes, checking out the basketball in his hands.

"Here, I'll show you how to throw it right. Check me out." Said the older boy, as he noticed that she was hiding another basketball behind her back. He took Vicki's arms and positioned them in the classic free throw pose. "Watch me." He said.

Just across the gym, Reggie and Jamie tossed their own basketball around. Being Sophomores, they were exempt from the weird senior buddy thing going on with the poor freshmen. Still, Jamie felt a need periodically to look over at his robot sister just to make sure that she wasn't picking something or someone up that she wasn't supposed to. Reggie seemed more intent on making baskets and passes than looking at what anyone else was doing, especially since Jamie was the only friendly face he knew.

"Let's do a lay up!" Shouted Reggie, competing over the noise of numerous bouncing basketballs and general chattering of the other students. Jamie nodded, and tossed the basketball at Reggie as he went running towards the basket. Just as Reggie was about to return the pass, Jamie quickly glanced over to Vicki again and he froze in his tracks. The tall blonde gorilla of a boy that Vicki had been paired with was standing behind her, and holding her wrists so that she could make a free throw shot. He couldn't hear the conversation going on, but saw that the boy outright giggled at something that Vicki had said.

 _ **SPANG**_ \- The basketball hit Jamie squarely in the face, striking his nose perfectly on center. Reggie landed from his tiny hop and went rushing over to Jamie, who reeled and held his nose. A mass of other students came running over too, and the P.E. Teacher blew her whistle, making the entire gym fall silent. Reggie's mouth dropped open as he saw the small trickle under Jamie's fingers.

"I'm sorry Jamie! I thought you had it!" Said Reggie, grief stricken. Jamie shook his head, fully embarrassed and watery eyed. The P.E. teacher came up and shoved Reggie gently off to the side.

"Are you okay? Are your lips or chin numb?" She asked, prodding his jaw. Jamie shook his head and started to gather his shirt to his nose, but the teacher had produced a handkerchief for him before he could. He wadded it up to his noise and tried not to notice all the faces looking at him. "Come on, let's get you to the school nurse. Have everyone do a few laps around the gym, Mr. Jones." Said the teacher. The blonde senior who had been with Vicki just minutes before spoke up.

"Okay Ms. Piers!" He said, motioning for everyone to follow him. Most of the students went scampering off with him, but Reggie and Vicki stayed behind. Reggie looked very dejected, and he hung his head low.

"It was an accident, Reggie-it's alright." Said Jamie, with his hoarse and cracking voice. The teacher grimaced and looked at Jamie's neck.

"Did it get you in the neck too?" She asked concerned. Jamie's face went red.

"His voice is changing." Answered Vicki. "Our mom says he'll sound like Christian Slater when he's all done." She added with a nod. Reggie huffed out.

"Cool it Vicki." Said Jamie, as he stood up and trailed alongside the P.E. teacher. Both the teacher and Jamie disappeared into the hallway, leaving Reggie alone with Vicki. He turned to her and sighed out. A strange exchange happened between the two, Reggie looked at Vicki, eyeing her up and down- but not in the way that Vicki had seen him 'secretly' do in times before. Vicki meanwhile, analyzed the body language of Reggie, and ascertained through her emotion codex that he was feeling either confused or cautious. The weird silence had lasted too long, and soon the blonde boy came back to them.

"Come on ya love birds, get running!" He yelled, blowing his whistle at them.

* * *

Joan Lawson was just as relieved as her last class when the final bell rang throughout the school. The class emptied out quickly, with students giving their farewells to her as she happily returned them with a smile. Finally the hallway quieted down, with less and less students roaming the corridors, leaving Joan to put away her desk implements and lock up the room as she made her own exit. She sighed out and tried her best to walk down the halls without showing how angry her knee was with her.

"Hiyee Mrs. Lawson!" Came Harriet's familiar voice from behind Joan. Joan turned around and smiled down at her next door neighbor.

"Harriet! How was your first day of school?" Asked Joan, as she let Harriet catch up to her. "Did you make any new friends yet?" She added, as she started walking side by side with the freckled girl.

"Not really…" Said Harriet, squinting a little and thinking about the question. Then she opened her eyes a little wider and tossed her long pony tail over her shoulder. "But everyone in music class knows my name now! The music teacher had to tell me to quiet down so that he could hear his piano." She said, sounding almost proud of the fact. Joan laughed inwardly and gave Harriet a nod.

"Well, just remember that first impressions are often the longest lasting ones." Said Joan. Harriet nodded energetically in agreement.

"Oh I know! My mom always says to be as loud and obnoxious as I usually am when I meet new people~ that way they know what to expect before they invite me over." She said. "Only, sometimes other people avoid me before I even meet them- I guess word travels fast." Said Harriet. Joan nodded.

"It depends on how fast the mouth is moving." Said Joan with a tiny smile. Harriet furrowed her eyebrows and nodded. "Do you want to catch a ride home from me, Harriet? I've got a little time before I have to go pick up Jamie and Vicki anyways." Said Joan, as she took out her car keys. Harriet shrugged and smiled.

"Okay! But is it okay if I wait a little before going out of the school? I don't want the other kids to think I'm a teacher's pet." She said. Joan raised an eyebrow.

"Well why would they think that Harriet?" She asked. Harriet stopped by the main doors of the school and slung her backpack across her shoulder.

"With Vicki gone into high school, everyone knows that there's a spot to be filled. She was every teacher's pet!" She said matter-of-factly. Joan was so put off by the comment, that she walked straight into the main doors of the hallway with a loud thud. She had smacked her shoulder this time, and Joan felt a wave of embarrassment wash over her. Some of the other teachers stuck their heads out of the teacher's lounge and the main office to see the hubbub. Harriet stood by the door with huge eyes looking up at Joan. "Are you okay Mrs. Lawson?!" She asked, with a very concerned tone. Joan sighed out.

"I'm fine Harriet." Said Joan, trying to reassure her. Then the stocky P.E. teacher's voice called out from the teacher's lounge.

"Another door jump out and bite you, Mrs. Lawson?" Asked the P.E. teacher. Joan frowned and pretended not to hear, as she ushered Harriet out of the door of the school. They traveled down the short steps to the faculty parking area and finally got to the Lawson family car, the little silver BMW. Joan started going through her purse as Harriet began conversing about the other teachers in the school.

"Mr. Norris is the worst one though, his breath smells like rubber cement! Yuck!" Said Harriet, as Joan jingled her purse violently.

"I'm sure it's the coffee he drinks, Harriet…" Began Joan. She turned her purse over and then checked her pockets. "Oh no!" Said Joan, as she peered into the windows of the car. There in the ignition rested the keys to the Lawson family rambler, in full view behind the quite securely locked doors. Harriet put her hands up to the glass and peered inside also.

"Uh oh… are those your keys Mrs. Lawson?" Asked Harriet. Joan frowned and nodded.

"Unless I got lucky and some other poor sap locked her keys in my car." She said. Harriet shrugged and rattled her backpack around.

"Well, looks like I'll be walking after all." She said "Looks like you'll either have to call a tow truck or find a big rock to get those keys out! Good luck- and tell Jamie I said hello~!" Said Harriet, as she wandered away carefree and removed utterly from Joan's predicament.

"I will, thanks Harriet." Said Joan, with a slightly pained tone to her voice. Harriet waved and pranced away, leaving Joan alone with the BMW. "Great." Said Joan, to herself as she peered once more into the car window. Minutes passed by as She stood in silent thought, wondering how long it might take a tow truck to get the car door unlocked.

This wasn't the first time this had happened. Once when the Lawson family had gone to the mall just one town over, Ted had accidentally locked himself out of the BMW too. Luckily, or maybe unluckily, they had Vicki along to help with the opening of the car door. Ted had been very specific- he had told her not to shatter the windows or break the car door in any way to remove the keys from the front seat, and Vicki followed his commands quite well. She had considered the little German made automobile for a number of seconds, and then very swiftly and neatly punched the front grill of the car so hard that it's airbag deployed with enough force to launch the keys onto the floor of the back seat. Before Ted could stop her, she simply reached her hand up through the floor of the car and retrieved the keys.

Maybe the hole was still there? Ted often said he'd fix things with the car, but would put those things off indefinitely. Joan hoped against hope and got to her hands and knees to inspect the bottom of the car. There was indeed still the small hole that Vicki had made with her hand, but there seemed little to no use in it with the keys in the ignition.

"This just isn't my day!" Said Joan, exasperated as she stood back up. She turned to see that the little older science teacher from the teacher's lounge was behind her. The little science teacher waved an ascot of her own at Joan, happily showing that she was following the fashion trend.

"Good night Mrs. Lawson~! Watch those bumps and scrapes now~!" Said the older lady very cheerily. Joan gave her the best smile she could muster, but it fell short. The little older teacher frowned at Joan and hobbled her way over to her at the car. "Oh Mrs. Lawson, you look like you've had a terrible day! What's the matter dearie?" She asked. Joan's shoulders sank down and her eyes watered up a bit.

"It _has_ been a terrible day… I woke up with this bruise, and it looks like the worst thing possible for a teacher to have on the first day of class…" Began Joan, loosening her ascot and showing the fully developed bruise to the older science teacher. The older lady put a finger up to her chin and nodded, taking it all in. "And then I just couldn't stop being clumsy today- I hit my knee on the desk, I spilled a whole cup full of pencils, my stupid purse strap is breaking, and now I locked myself out of the car!" She said, hiding her face in her hands. The older science teacher made a clicking noise with her tongue and gave Joan a consoling pat on her shoulder.

"It's okay Mrs. Lawson, every new teacher goes through it- it's a big change to suddenly be responsible for over a hundred students. On my first day, I accidentally set fire to the projector in the middle of the chemistry film on safe lab practices!" Said the teacher, chortling as she spoke. Joan uncovered her face and smiled a little. "It's simply first day jitters, all the students had them too, believe you me- the most awkward and klutzy people in the school today were all under 5'5~!" She said with a nod.

"First day jitters?" Asked Joan, a little hopefully. The science teacher nodded and made her way to the car door. She took out a number 2 pencil and stuck the led gently into the keyhole of the door handle.

"Perfectly natural! And don't you pay any mind to that thing on your neck, there's nothing wrong with still being young…" Said the older lady as she worked. Joan looked down, a little ashamed at the woman's assertion of the origin of the mark on her neck. The older lady inspected the door and then removed the pencil from the door and took out two paper clips from her purse, a bobby pin, and very small flathead screwdriver. "I wouldn't have ever known how to do this if my boyfriend in high school hadn't locked himself out of his car- in my father's drive way no less! The doors were different back then, but it still works!" She said. The door lock popped open as the lady twisted the various implements in the key hole, the screwdriver acting as the key with the pin and clips acting as it's teeth. Joan smiled and put a hand on the side of her face.

"Oh my goodness! Thank you!" She said, absolutely amazed at the handy work. The older woman smiled.

"Next time, do what I do Mrs. Lawson…" Said the lady as she produced her own car keys, tied to her purse by a springy jelly cord. "Keep your keys close~!" She said. With that, the older woman smiled and wandered off towards her own car.

"I will! And thanks again!" Said Joan, feeling much better about her day.

* * *

Jamie didn't feel much better about his day at all. His nose hurt, his eyes felt puffy, and his voice sounded stupid. He sat reclined in the dark nurses office, an icepack over the bridge of his nose, thinking about how not great his first day was going. Math class was harder than ever, he knew it would be the end of his scholastic career, and he seemed incapable of making new friends. All the other students had friends from other schools, or just didn't notice Jamie on account of his remaining silent throughout the day. Stupid voice.

Worse than that, something was going on with Vicki, or rather, something was going better for Vicki. She had made friends, she had a totally relaxed and natural air about her, and she was in complete comfort with the insanely hard curriculum in front of both herself and Jamie. Meanwhile, Jamie felt like the confused robot- unable to move with the flow, and at a complete loss. He just knew that for the rest of his days, the other kids would call him the nosebleed kid. The door opened up in the darkroom, and another student sat down in the other chair down from Jamie. He didn't bother looking, and he didn't care who it was that had come to see him.

"Jamie?" Asked the familiar voice to his right. Jamie opened his eyes and looked over to see Paula Preston, an ice pack on her elbow, and sitting right next to him. He smiled and sat up, wincing as his nose throbbed in pain. "What happened to you?" She asked, very concerned sounding.

"I got hit with a basketball by accident!" He said, sounding raspy and high pitched. He frowned and gripped his throat. Paula nodded and pointed to her elbow.

"I fell down in my German class… the desks are t-too close together." Said Paula. She reached over and looked under Jamie's icepack, inspecting the damage. She smiled up at him. "I think you're going to live, Jamie! And your face is still going to be pretty!" She said. Jamie smiled and nodded.

"You barely stutter anymore, Paula. You sound great!" Said Jamie, his voice cracking again. He sighed out, but Paula didn't seem to care about his strained vocal cords.

"I really owe it to Vicki still! Not my Vicki, your Vicki. After she helped me out with stuttering so badly, I went to go see my old speech therapist, and he fixed me the rest of the way up. Almost~!" She said. She sat back in her chair and looked at him at length. "Does it hurt?"

"Only if I try to sing soprano." Said Jamie, a big smile on his face. Paula giggled.

"I meant your nose, silly." She said. Jamie lifted the icepack off of his nose.

"I know, but they say laughter is the best medicine." He said. Paula rolled her eyes. "It's not too awful, I think I'll be able to go to biology still next hour." He said. Paula's eyes lit up.

"I have biology next hour too! Do you have that Mr. Perry guy?" She said excitedly. Jamie smiled.

"Yeah! We can go together- we'll be lab partners!" He said- Jamie cleared his throat. His voice had almost evened out for a second. He cleared it again and Paula smiled back at him.

"Okay, partners~!" She said, grabbing him by the arm, and raising him to his feet. He blushed a little but kept his composure. "We can get through it t-together." Said Paula. The two of them marched out the door and off towards the final hour. Jamie's nose hurt a little less, and his day looked a little brighter.

Jamie entered the door to the biology lab followed closely by Paula. He scanned the room and then found Reggie, who had his book bag across one of the lab tables so that Jamie could join him. The two of them sat with Reggie, exchanging greetings, (Jamie showed him his nose) and they hushed as Mr. Perry walked in, followed by Vicki. Jamie raised an eyebrow at that- something had been discussed apparently between the two, and Mr. Perry almost looked aggravated. Jamie waved for Vicki to join their one last spot, and much to Reggie's chagrin she bounded over to the empty seat just as the second bell rang.

"What was that about Vicki?" Whispered Jamie to Vicki. Vicki shrugged and quietly answered back.

"Mr. Perry thinks I shouldn't be in this class. He said, 'I can't use a bell curve grading system if you do any of the tests, so just make it look like you're doing something in there.'" Said Vicki, as she opened up her backpack and pulled out a blueberry muffin for Paula. Paula graciously took the muffin, having already had one earlier in the day.

"I don't believe it! He's letting her coast through the whole semester?!" Asked Reggie, at a hushed rage. Jamie crossed his arms and sat back in his chair.

"No way Vicki, that's too good to be true! Why's he letting you do it, what's a bell curve?" Asked Jamie.

"It's how they grade you in high school Jamie, the s-student with the highest test scores determines how average the rest of us dummies are." Answered Paula. "How high was your GPA last year, Vicki?" She asked, looking over to the tiniest kid in the class.

"Very high." Said Vicki, not caring to elaborate on it. Mr. Perry sat down at his desk after he was done writing his name on the chalkboard, and looked over a clipboard in his hand, tapping a pen to his lips as he did so. The class was stuck in an awkward silence, waiting for the white lab coated teacher to say something, anything! But the quiet prevailed- leaving the students squirming and uncomfortable in their seats. Finally, the silence broke as a familiar spiky red haired student appeared in the door, and Mr. Perry took a new years eve party horn from his pocket and blew it loudly at the boys arrival.

"Congratulations…" Began Mr. Perry as he looked over the clipboard again. "Ernie! You're now my official paper handy-outty guy." He said, whistling at Ernie as he shook a stack full of papers at him. Ernie frowned and begrudgingly walked over to the desk to collect the papers.

"Why me?!" Asked Ernie, a little insulted that he was being singled out. "Cause I was a little late?" He added. Mr. Perry shooed him away towards the waiting students.

"No, because you're the best man for the job." Said Mr. Perry as he stood up at his desk, his delivery was deadpan and Ernie didn't know if the teacher was being sarcastic or honest with him. "Boys and girls, meine damen und herren, scholars of all ages- these are your _**official**_ study packets! Learn em, live em love em." He said as he crossed his arms and looked over at Jamie's lab table.

"Hydrofluoric acid?! I can't even say the word!" Said Reggie, as he looked at all the bizarre words in the packet. "This isn't a study packet, it's a spelling bee!" He added. Jamie laughed but quickly went quiet as he noticed Vicki quickly flipping through the packet. He nudged her hand and she looked up.

"Vicki, slow down!" He whispered, leaning in towards her. Vicki leaned in towards him too.

"Why?" She asked, genuinely curious. Jamie leaned in even closer.

"Because you're reading _faster_ than everyone else~!" He said. Vicki leaned back and made a silent 'oh' with her mouth, and she started going through the packet much slower. Paula leaned in towards Jamie and whispered too.

"What are you guys talking about?" She asked. Reggie leaned in also towards both of them, in a hushed voice.

"Vicki doesn't know when to shut off her big brain, that's what." Answered Reggie, for Jamie. Jamie looked over at Reggie. "She's gonna make everyone hate her just like in middle school." Added Reggie.

"Everyone didn't hate her in middle school, Reggie! What are you talking about?!" Whispered Jamie. "Everyone loved Vicki!" At that, Paula nodded in agreement.

"I l-like Vicki!" Said Paula. "It's okay that she's smart, she's probably the smartest kid in class." She added. Reggie rolled his eyes.

"Try the smartest kid outside of M. I. T." Said Reggie, still hushed. Jamie furrowed his brow.

"What's your problem, Reggie? You've been giving her the stink eye all day!" Said Jamie, his whisper rising a little bit. "I thought you liked her- you're acting really weird!" He said. Paula frowned and leaned away from the two boys.

"I'm not the one that's weird, Jamie." Said Reggie. "Getting an A in class without ever taking a test- that's weird!" He said, as he leaned back into his chair again. Jamie returned to reading his packet, fuming at his best friend's attitude. Mr. Perry cleared his throat and put a hand on Jamie's shoulder. Jamie froze and tensed up, worried that he was about to get in trouble for talking. Instead, the teacher fixed his gaze on Vicki, who continued to look through the packet.

"Yoo-hoo! Study time Barbie?" He asked. Vicki blinked and looked up at him. "I know you love sitting amongst the bestest brother in the whole wide world here, but how would you feel about a little seating arrangement just to even out the class a little bit?" Said Mr. Perry. Jamie looked around at the tables, trying to see where Vicki would fit in.

"I would feel okay about that." Said Vicki. Mr. Perry ushered her up and towards the loneliest table that Jamie had finally been able to see. Ernie's table. He sat alone at the back of the class by the window, arms crossed and staring down at the paper in front of him. Vicki left with the teacher and Jamie looked over at Reggie, who was purposely not looking and staring down at his packet too.

"We have a weirdly uneven number of students in this class." Said Mr. Perry, as the two reached Ernie. "She's gonna be the even to your odd, Billy idle." He said, scooting a seat out next to Ernie. Vicki smiled at Ernie, and Ernie gave a very discontented look to the teacher.

"I don't need any lab partners- I can do it myself!" He said, trying to sound tough. Mr. Perry sat Vicki down next to the spiky haired youth and rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, but then you might actually enjoy getting through my class, and as an accredited science teacher- I just can't allow that. Now suffer your new lab partner." Said Mr. Perry, without much sympathy. Then he put his hands in his pockets and turned around to leave back to the desk. Jamie watched on with a little concern for his sister, but realized that she could handle Ernie very easily. Still, her being alone at the table with him made Jamie nervous.

"Just don't crowd me- alright?!" Said Ernie, trying to sound macho and not at all afraid of the little girl who had picked him up off of the ground with one hand. "I ain't stupid- I can figure this stuff out without you hovering over me like some kind of straight 'A' angel!" He added. Vicki nodded and returned to her packet.

"Okay." She said simply. Ernie gulped and gave her a nod, relieved that she hadn't opted to pick him up and shake him instead.

"Okay." He reiterated. He went back to his packet too, glancing over at her briefly and catching the frown that was on her face. The poor little freshman looked like she could start crying at any moment- and Ernie's face went hot. He didn't want to be responsible for her bawling on the first day of class. "I didn't mean it like that- I meant I don't like people thinking I'm stupid. I wanna be smarter, but I wanna do it on my own too. Everyone knows you're the smartest kid around." He said, trying to choose his words carefully. Vicki nodded, still absent of tears, but obviously very distraught.

"I understand." Said Vicki, in her strangely monotone voice as she slowly read the words on the packet in front of her. Ernie grimaced and looked around. Everyone was busy reading and chatting quietly at their tables, while Mr. Perry had his back turned to the entire class, drawing something on the chalk board while the students studied. He sighed out and opened his backpack, reaching in he searched for his quarry and found it, putting the bag of unopened gummi bears on the table next to her arm. He opened the bag and gently shook the bag so that Vicki would notice. She looked first at the bag on the table and then up to him.

"Good, now stop getting all teary eyed- everyone's gonna think I was mean to you! Try these, they're pretty good." Said Ernie, forgetting to maintain his take no prisoners façade. He poured some out from the bag in her now forcibly upturned palm. "Here." He said.

"Thank you…" Began Vicki, as she considered the act. Ernie hadn't been very kind to anyone as far as Vicki knew (and that was quite far) so the act seemed to warrant a space in her bubble memory. She stored the little nugget away and held up a red gummi bear in her fingers. Then she rummaged through her own backpack and produced her last blueberry muffin from her home etc. class. She put it on the table in front of Ernie. "This is pretty good too." She said. Ernie took the muffin and stared at it.

"Yeah! Thanks!" He said, putting a gummi bear in his mouth. He chewed the bear and smiled at Vicki. "Watch this!" He whispered. Ernie pulled the gummi bear from his mouth and took aim with his fingers very carefully. He brought the gummi bear back and then let it fly with a deft launch. The chewed up sticky bear flew through the air and landed on Reggie's hair, without his noticing. Ernie smiled big and pumped his fist, looking over to Vicki. She smiled back at him and followed suit, chewing the red bear and then also tossing it through the air- landing it right next to Ernie's projectile. Reggie scratched the other side of his head but had still apparently missed the missile launches. "You're a natural kid! Not bad!" Said Ernie.

"Evolution~!" Sang out Mr. Perry, as he finished his drawings on the board. The classic illustration of the fish coming out of water and turning into a frog, and so on and so on, covered the chalk board. "A perfect sequence of changes that made a little blob of jelly into all of…" Mr. Perry stopped in his tracks, noticing the bright red and green blobs in Reggie's hair. He turned around and wrote something on his clipboard and then turned back around to the class. He returned to his thought. "Well, into all of you. Some of you, I can still kind of tell the resemblance." The class giggled, including at last the girl in the yellow sun dress.

* * *

Joan Lawson pulled up to the Valley High school, battling for a spot near the entrance. She slipped the little BMW in between two other cars and waited patiently for the gaggle of kids to produce her own two little ruffians. She saw them at last sneak through several stationary groups of students, along with a few other students close behind. Joan watched with a smile on her face as Jamie and a familiar looking girl exchanged goodbyes. The girl smiled and wrote something down on a little piece of paper and then awkwardly handed it to Jamie- and the two parted ways both looking silly and clumsy over the whole thing.

"Hmm." Said Joan to herself, alone in the car. She raised an eyebrow as Reggie passed by Jamie, and the two seemed to give a coldish farewell for the day. Joan put a hand to her mouth when Reggie turned away from the group, revealing that he had two strange bits of candy stuck to his hair. She clicked her tongue in dismay. "Oh poor Reggie… whosever kid that did that should be ashamed!" Said Joan, shaking her head.

She watched as a tall rough looking boy with spiky red hair pushed past a few other kids- who fled in self-preservation- and stopped next to Vicki. He playfully gave her a jab in the upper arm, and left smiling as he bit into a delicious looking blueberry muffin. Vicki watched him go with a furrowed brow, confused over the boys actions, and then spotted Joan in the BMW. Joan waved frantically at her, and Vicki tugged on the love struck Jamie's shirt to get him to follow her. The two Lawson children opened the doors of the BMW and climbed into the backseat, shutting the doors behind them and cutting off the loud ambiance of the school parking lot. Joan smiled big and looked in her rear view mirror at the two.

"So! Did you guys have a good day? How'd everything go?" Asked Joan, a hopeful and cheerful tone to her voice. Jamie and Vicki looked at each other. Jamie hadn't really considered Vicki's day to be anything but good, but then- he wasn't her. For the first time in the entire day Jamie thought for maybe just a second that his day wasn't so bad, especially in comparison to the robot's sitting next to him. She had mentioned that all the AP kids called her a teacher's pet, and those were the smartest kids in school saying that! Topping that off with Reggie giving her the cold shoulder suddenly, and the science teacher pairing her with that psychopath, Ernie… well it seemed her day might have actually been quite bad.

"My day was okay. How about you Vicki? Paula really likes you, you know?" Said Jamie, his voice much less scrambled up. Vicki clicked her seatbelt in place and looked at Jamie and then at her mother. She considered Jamie's day to be less than okay, what with his changing voice on the first school day, his best friend having a falling out with him, and the basketball that slammed into his nose… to Vicki it seemed Jamie's day might have actually been not okay.

"Mine was okay too." She said with a nod. "Except for the radio malfunction." She added, nonchalant. Jamie cringed and remembered the music that had emanated from Vicki as they were returning from lunch. Joan looked at Jamie.

"Radio malfunction?" She asked him. Jamie smiled nervously.

"Oh… yeah… dad's gonna have to look at her when he gets home. She was picking up a radio station or something at lunch. It wasn't anything serious!" He said. Joan turned back around and put the car into drive.

"Well I hope no one heard it. That'd be pretty hard to explain away." Said Joan, as she pulled away from the school. Jamie and Vicki both sat quietly in the back seat, contemplating their days. Jamie took out the piece of paper from his shirt pocket and read the digits on the paper again with a small smile. He glanced out of the window and watched as the town went by.

Vicki meanwhile, had taken out a little bag of gummi bears from her backpack and she began to chew one of the tiny green bears. She was satisfied that she had indeed learned one new thing in class.

* * *

The ride home for Ted was a bit of a strange one. Brandon Brindle remained uncharacteristically quiet, and Dr. Herbert Winston was the most relaxed that Ted had ever seen him. He was actually catching a nap in the back seat of the car. Finally, as Brandon turned onto the exit that would lead the three men home, he broke his silence and spoke up.

"So Teddy, any chance that we'll get to take a ride in that old hot rod in your garage?" Asked Brandon, as he straightened out his seatbelt. Herbert stirred and awoke in the back seat, blinking several times and rubbing his eyes. Ted shrugged and looked away from his window to Brandon.

"I don't know, Brandon. I'm actually thinking of working on it a little bit before I take it out on the streets anymore." Said Ted, as a little smile escaped his face. He relished in the idea that Brandon thought that the rundown barely working vehicle was a hotrod. "Besides Brandon, it's a Belvedere, not a muscle car." Said Ted, as he looked back towards the window. The car was silent again, save for Brandon's slight harrumph. Seconds passed, and finally the voice of Herbert Winston arose from the back seat.

"A Plymouth Belvedere… What year is it- if you don't mind me asking, Mr. Lawson?" Asked Herbert. Ted turned around, a little surprised at the question.

"1962, I think. It was my grandfather's before he left it to me." Said Ted. Herbert's eyes lit up and he straightened out in his seat.

"A four door? Pretty rare these days." He said to himself. Ted raised an eyebrow and nodded in agreement. "I'm not sure that even that car museum downtown has one of those in it's exhibitions." Added Herbert. Brandon made a discontented click with his tongue.

"You hear that Ted? And you're just letting it waste away in your garage. It's a shame~!" Said Brandon, shaking his head slightly. Ted turned and looked at Herbert.

"Are you interested in cars, Dr. Winston?" He asked. Herbert smiled his thin smile and chuckled a little.

"I dabbled in some automotive dealings back in my high school years. I was the first honor roll student to ever be kicked out of shop class." He said, looking out wistfully at the passing scenery. Ted smiled and looked over to Brandon- who shot him a grimace back.

"Kicked out? What'd you do, set the teacher's car on fire?" Asked Ted, forgetting about Herbert's usual disposition towards small talk and humor. It paid off however, as Herbert scoffed and smiled as he looked out of the window, remembering back to his incident.

"I built a Chrysler 426 hemi engine from blueprints and spare parts from a junkyard as my midterm project- the 'teacher' wasn't thrilled with what I had attached it to." Said Herbert. Ted's eyes widened in surprise and admiration. If Herbert Winston had achieved that in his high school years, than surely his doctorate was well earned in college.

"What'd you put it into?" Asked Brandon, genuinely curious.

"Our school's homecoming float. They dismantled my engine before I could ever see it be used." Said Herbert, a little mournfully. Ted smiled big and stifled a laugh. "It made me lose my taste for the whole thing after that. Still, I meddle with motors here and there." He added, returning his gaze out the window. Ted turned back in his seat and looked out of the window as Brandon neared Dr. Winston's house.

"Well, Dr. Winston, if I'm ever in the neighborhood and my car breaks down, maybe you can take a look at it for me." Said Ted, half jokingly. The car came to a stop and Herbert opened the door and climbed out. He turned around before closing the door.

"I just might, Mr. Lawson." Said Herbert. Then he bent down and looked at Brandon. "Mr. Brindle? I'll see you both tomorrow morning." He said. With that, he closed the car door shut and made his way towards his spooky almost mansion like house, hands tucked neatly in his lab coat pockets. Brandon turned to Ted and shook his head.

"I wouldn't go near that house even if my car was smoking and leaning to the left!" Said Brandon, as he pulled away. Ted just smiled, happy at last that some sort of peace had been restored between him and the good doctor.

By the time Brandon pulled up to his house, Ted could see that Joan, Jamie, and Vicki were all out in the yard of his own house, reclining in the September sun. He and Brandon exchanged goodbyes, and went to greet their respective families. Ted opened the gate to his yard and smiled at his contented looking Lawsons.

"Well, you all look happy!" Said Ted, as he closed the gate behind him. "How was everyone's…" He began to say, but stopped short after seeing the bruises all over Joan, the cut on Jamie's nose, and the very out of place bag of gummi bears in Vicki's hands. "…day…" Ted finished. Joan, Jamie and Vicki all looked at each other.

"Not too bad." Said Jamie, his voice sounding a little less high pitched, but still croaky. Joan nodded and put her sunglasses on as she laid back in her lawn chair.

"Same here." She said, looking up into the sun, looking like she'd been through the wringer. Vicki nodded and sat back in her chair as well.

"So was mine." Said Vicki, as her audio output began to malfunction again. The sounds of polka music filled the yard, and everyone looked in her direction. Vicki gave a quick smile and tapped the side of her head lightly until the music stopped. Ted smiled and put his hands on his hips.

"Some things just never change, do they?" He said, sounding a little amused.

* * *

Somewhere a few blocks from the Lawson house, a peculiar looking Volkswagen toaster van, with an odd looking assortment of radar dishes and longish antennae atop it's curved and rusted body started to life with a loud backfire of the old engine. It's driver smiled maniacally, feeling vindicated that he had at last cracked the android's radio frequency authentication codes- and it would only be a matter of time before Ted Lawson's greatest invention would be his. The brightly flower patterned van shuddered down the street and it's fan belt squealed as it turned a corner. Soon, Mr. Andrews would be rich… filthy rich.

 **The End**

The Lawson Family will return in:

 **Veni, Vidi, V.I.C.I.**


End file.
